Railway torpedo



y 9, 1940- H. E. SHERMAN 2,207,207

RAILWAY TORPEDO Filed June 27, 1938 Fig.2

INVENTQR HAmz E-. 614mm,

AJVATrQRNEY 7 Patented July 9, 1940 PATENT OFFICE- RAILWAY TORPEDO HarryE. Sherman, Alton, Ill., assignor to The Equitable Powder ManufacturingCompany, East Alton, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application June27, 1938, Serial No. 216,012

4 Claims.

have attended the use of these prior type, such.

as, for example, danger from flying metal frag- 15' ments on explosionof the torpedo, lack of facility in fastening the torpedo to a rail,projecting metal parts in the assembled torpedo which caused difiicultyin safe andcompact packaging, or excessive costs of production.

The object of this invention is to provide a railway torpedo havingattachment means consisting of a pliable metal rod by means of whichfirm anchorage of the torpedo to a rail and at the same time improvedconditions of safety in use may be obtained.

Further objects will appear from the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of pliable metal rod,of circular cross-section;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an alternate form of pliable metalrod, of square cross-section;

Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating one manner in which thepliable metal rod may be assembled in the torpedo;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view through the torpedo along linel4 of Figure 6;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a completed torpedo; and

Figure 6 is a perspective View of a torpedo attached to a rail.

In accordance with the present invention, a railway torpedo is providedwhich has as means of anchorage to a rail a pliable metal rod in whichthe thickness and the Width are of the same order of magnitude. It hasbeen found that Referring to the drawing, Figure 3 is illustrative'ofone manner of assembling a torpedo in accordance with this invention.The explosive tablet l, consisting, for example, of 100 grains of amixture of 35% by weight of potassium chlorate, 15% by weight of sulfur,and the balance sand and suitable binder, is wrapped so as to beentirely'enclosed in a flexible protective casing 2, for example ofwaterproof paper. The pliable rod 3 is placed in the base of the Wrappedtablet, an adhesive-coated outer wrapper 5 is folded around theassemblage as indicated in the draw ing and, the assembly is completedby the application of suitable pressure, as between a rubber press and ametal mold. The wrapped explosive is then desirably dipped into a'waterproofing lacquer, sand is applied to the base, and, finally,',

thevolatile solvent in the lacquer film is removed by drying. .Onwrapping the ends of thepliable. rod 3 around the torpedo as shown inFigure 5, it is ready for packaging.

As-indicated in the cross-sectional view shown in Figure 4, the assemblyis so carried out that therodt doesnot project below the base plane. ofthe completed torpedo, in order that the tor-. pedo may rest evenly on arail surface when placed thereon. This may be accomplished by providinga suitable groove'in the base of the explosive tablet, which issufiiciently deep so that the inserted rod does not project beyond thebase of the wrapped torpedo. Contact of the rod 3 with the explosive lis prevented by the intervening flexible casing 2, to which the rod isfastened by means of the outer adherent wrapper 5. Other means offastening the rod 3 to the casing 2 may be utilized, such as forexample, passing the rod through suitable slits in the casing. The finallacquer coating serves not only to waterproof the completed torpedo, butalso to strengthen the assembly.

Rod 3 is preferably of circular cross section and is provided with akink 6 such as is shown in Figure 1, in order to anchor the rod firmlyin the wrapped torpedo and prevent its removal by pulling from the side.The rod may likewise be of rectangular or square cross-section, as shownin Figure 2, the essential feature being that the Width and thickness beof substantially the same order of magnitude, the width being not morethan two or three times the thickness, but in general, a rod of circularor elliptical cross section is preferred since sharp edges are therebyavoided. A rod whichh as been found particularly suitable consists of alead wire of circular cross-section, 0.109 inch in diameter, 7%; inchesCircular lead rod of this lnvention Conventional lead strap Overalllength inches 7% Width 0.3125 Thickness 0. 040 eight ounces 0. Upwardpull on torpedo required to remove same from rail .ounces. 29 76 Sidepull on torpedo required to remove same from rail ounces 14 40Furthermore, on being attached to a rail and exploded by the passagethereover of a car wheel, the resulting pieces of the securing rod ofthis invention are found in close proximity to the rail.

This result is believed to be due to the fact that only a relativelysmall area is presented to be acted on by the force of the expanding gasformed in the explosion, this area being much smaller than in the caseof the conventional type of strap.

As illustrated in Figure 6, a torpedo, provided according to thisinvention with a pliable rod as securing means, may be readily andfirmly fastened to a rail merely by bending the projecting ends of therod around and in contact with the rail head, this operation being aseasily carried out as in the case of the conventional type of leadstrap. However, as indicated by the test resultsin the above table, theattachment isfar more secure with the rod than with the strap.

While lead constitutes the preferred metal for use in the rod, it willbe understood that other metals or metal alloys may be substitutedtherefor, provided that the pliability is suitable and similar to thatof lead. It will also be understood that various changes in form,arrangement of parts, and other details may be made and are includedwithin the scope of the invention and following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

l. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive tablet having akinked groove in its base, a flexible casing enclosing the said tablet,an outer wrapper adhering to the casing, and means for securing thetorpedo to a rail consisting of a pliable metal rod having a thicknesssubstantially equal to its width, said rod being kinked to fit the saidgroove and having its central portion snugly disposed within the saidgroove between the casing and the wrapper and fastened therein by thesaid wrapper.

2. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive tablet having agroove kinked in its base, a flexible casing enclosing the said tablet,and, fastened to the casing within the said groove, means for securingthe torpedo to a rail consisting of a pliable metal rod having athickness substantially equal to its width, said rod being kinked to fitthe said groove and having its central portion snugly fitted within thesaid groove externally of the casing.

3. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive tablet having akinked groove in its base, a flexible casing enclosing the said tablet,and means for securing the torpedo to a rail consisting of a pliablemetal rod of substantially circular cross-section, said rod being kinkedto fit the said groove and having its central portion fastened thereinexternally of the casing,-

4. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive tablet having akinked groove in its base,

a protective casing enclosing the said tablet, an outer wrapper adheringto the casing, and means for securing the torpedo to a rail consistingof a pliable metal rod of substantially circular crosssection, said rodbeing kinked to fit the said groove and having its central portionembraced within the said groove between the casing and the wrapper.

HARRY E. SHERMAN.

